(a) Technical Field
The present application relates to a liquid crystal display and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display including an alignment layer pattern and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A flat panel display means a display device having a smaller thickness smaller than a size of a screen, and a widely used flat panel display includes a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting display, an electrophoretic display, an electrowetting display, and the like.
As one example of the display devices, the liquid crystal display, which is one of the most common types of flat panel displays currently in use, includes two sheets of display panels with electric field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode and an alignment film, a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two display panels, and a plurality of color filters for displaying colors. The alignment layer determines initial alignment of liquid crystal molecules, and the electric field generating electrodes generates an electric field to change the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer. In such a liquid crystal display, polarization of incident light passing through the liquid crystal layer varies according to the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules, and a change in the polarization is represented as a change in transmittance of light by a polarizer.
When simply describing an example of a manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display, a plurality of signal lines, a plurality of switching elements, a plurality of pixel electrodes, and the like are formed on a lower mother substrate, and a separate upper mother substrate is provided. Next, alignment layers are coated on the lower mother substrate and the upper mother substrate. Thereafter, polymer chains of the alignment layer may be aligned in a predetermined direction by rubbing the cured alignment layer. Next, a short point and a sealant are formed on the lower mother substrate or the upper mother substrate, and a liquid crystal is dropped on the lower mother substrate or the upper mother substrate by using an inkjet method and the like. Next, the lower mother substrate and the upper mother substrate are bonded to each other and then cut by a cell unit to manufacture the liquid crystal display. Unlike this, each of the lower mother substrate and the upper mother substrate are cut by a cell unit to form a plurality of lower panels and upper panels, and then each lower panel and each upper panel may be bonded to each other.
The alignment layer determines an initial alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules in the completed liquid crystal display. A method of coating the alignment layer includes inkjet printing, spin coating, and the like. For example, when the alignment layer is coated on a display area of a cell by the inkjet method, a spreading degree of an edge of the coated alignment layer may not be uniform. Then, the alignment layer may be coated so as not to contact the sealant and reach the edge of the display area displaying an image. When the alignment layer is not coated up to the edge of the display area, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules is not controlled and thus a display defect may be generated.
In order to prevent the various problems, when a margin of the coated area of the alignment layer is large, a distance between the display area and the sealant is increased, and thus a width of the edge except for the display area of the liquid crystal display may be increased.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.